GITEGA August 5th (ABP) – The Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Mr. Déo Guide Rurema, is delighted with the step already taken in the agricultural sector in Burundi and in particular for the export products such as coffee, tea and other crops.
It was in the afternoon of August 2, 2022, during the presentation of the annual report on the achievements of his ministry for the 2021-2022 financial year.
In his presentation, Minister Rurema said that for the 2021-2022 financial year, Burundi has already collected an amount equivalent to 26,633,270.34 US dollars from the marketing of the coffee collected.
He further informed that his ministry in collaboration with the coffee growers have already installed 100 hectares of coffee trees. They also produced 12,000,000 coffee seedlings in the nursery. Three pulping-washing stations were rehabilitated and 6,368 tons of green coffee were produced.
In relation to tea, the minister in charge of agriculture reported that the country has already collected 24,792,144 US dollars
from the marketing of dry tea.
Minister Rurema explained that 51,587.911 tons of green leaves were picked from industrial blocs and village settings; 11,286.708 tons of dry tea were produced; 598 new hectares (ha) were planted with tea as part of increasing production.
Regarding cotton cultivation, Mr. Rurema noticed a significant progress compared to last year. He pointed out that the State has already collected 1,601,235,700 BIF from the marketing of cotton. He indicated that for that year, the production was 1010 tons of seed cotton and 406.405 tons of cotton lint.
As for sugar, Minister Rurema explained that the government of Burundi is very concerned about the sugar deficiency that is observed in these days. To that end, he explained that 507 ha were planted with sugar cane and 466 ha in expansion. He also indicated that the production was 15,879.1 tons of sugar worth 19,942,778,500 BIF from the marketing of the sugar produced.
He reported that the cultivation of millet, macadamia and cashew in some areas has given good results. He said that to promote those crops, the ministry gave people 2.2 tons of millet seeds and 5,000 macadamia seedlings. He added that 12,000 cashew seedlings have been grown.
Note that during that fiscal year, 2,000 technicians and agricultural agents were trained, 30,262 agricultural households benefited from loans within the framework of capacity building for producers; 3,000 cooperatives and 116 outreach centers have been supervised.